AND THE WORD WAS GOD

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3

So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son. 1 John 1:14

Recently, I had an opportunity to share my testimony with a dear friend who asked what happened to convince me of my decision for Christ. This wasn't the first time our conversation led to questions about my faith in God.

"Did you read the Bible or have some sort of epiphany?"

With tears welling up, I told him, "I experienced the love and forgiveness of God. I remember the exact day it happened," I replied. "It was the evening of September 2, 1973."

"So do you believe the Bible is necessary to experience God?" 

My immediate response was, "No, not in my case," but the Word of God does prove that my experience was with God and not some powerless epiphany. One day you'll see that both the Bible and the experience go hand in hand."

To further argue his point -- that the Bible had been mishandled by men and that men had left out many important books and others facts that should have been included if the Bible is to be deemed as anything more than a book of fables, old wives tales and myths -- he concluded by my own confession, the Bible isn't necessary to experience God. And on top of that he exclaimed with glee,

"You just proved my point!"

And so, our conversation ended with one final question:

"Are you telling me that if millions of people don't agree with the Bible, countless people from cultures and faiths around the world are going to hell?"

To which I answered, "Unless they have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, the Bible says, "YES!"

He was outraged with my narrow-minded, naive and ludicrous response. He laughed out loud, certain he had won his case by concluding anyone can have an experience with God without believing in the Bible. Buddha is just as real as Jesus, or any other great teacher of choice.

So I asked him, "What sounded better to him ... an encounter with your creator, God of the universe, who desires a living, loving, and lasting relationship with you ... who desires to lead and guide you into all truth and guide you on the right, safe, good and everlasting way, or merely a belief in the teaching of a dead man?" I asked him to think on it and get back to me.

The Thinker - Michelangelo

We said our usual goodbye's but on the drive home I was troubled with the way our conversation ended. I remembered a story in the book of Acts when Paul encountered a similar inquiry after touring Mar's hill (Acts 17:22-31).

It should be explained that all the Athenians and foreigners in Athens spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear of some 'new' thing. So when they saw Paul they were curious about his teaching.

"You are bringing some new and strange ideas to our ears and we would like to know what they mean."

Paul stood up and said, "Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious (suspicious) for as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown God.' He is the God who made the world and everything in it. He does not live in temples made by man as though he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life, and breath, and everything else, and satisfies every need. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us."

Paul preaches that the unknown God is Jesus Christ, 

The Bible tells us that Paul encountered the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus between AD 34-36, after the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord between AD 30-33. Since He never met Jesus during His earthly ministry, how else could Paul know so much about God unless he knew both the scriptures and the risen Lord?

Paul encounters Jesus Christ on the Road to Damascus

Then God spoke an astounding truth to my heart:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the WORD WAS GOD.

For the first time I realized that the Word of God -- and God -- are exactly, precisely and perfectly equal. One is not an alternative to the other or merely bearing witness to the other but the two are entwined and inseparable. They are one in the same.

The Bible is LIVING proof that the LIVING God IS GOD, and points to the only WAY, the TRUTH and THE LIFE. The Bible tells us that eternal life comes by no other name than by the name of Jesus Christ. The Bible reproves men of sin, which leads to repentance, which leads to forgiveness, which leads to a new and eternal relationship with the living God, which leads to truth, which leads to complete and total trust in God for our life and godliness, past, present and future. The Bible is the righteousness of God revealed.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3

During the sixties I was a young truth seeker. I had heard the stories from the Bible throughout my childhood but I was never able to connect the Word of God with the emptiness in my heart until the night God opened my eyes to understand what was written in the Bible. That very night I had been watching Billy Graham on TV. He was preaching in Seoul, Korea on one of his crusades. Of course he quoted scripture. Of course he read from the Word of God. How else could I become convicted of sin? Why else would I beg for His forgiveness? By what other power would I surrendered to God and give the care of my own life over to Him? It was true! The Word was God!

Yes! In the beginning WAS the Word, and the Word WAS with God and the WORD WAS GOD.

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Romans 10:17

God told Adam and Eve they would SURELY die if they ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Although everything Eve needed for a blessed life was already covered by her loving Father -- God had them covered from head to toe -- the devil was able to deceive Eve by causing her to doubt that God hadn't told her EVERYTHING regarding her survival, her future, her life. The possibility that God hadn't opened her eyes to 'know' good -- and evil -- left her perplex, confused and in a quandary.

"Eve turned to Adam and basically said, "If God hasn't told us everything, we might as well know what He knows!" 

In an effort to care for her own life, Eve usurped God's role as caregiver -- just to be sure -- and encouraged Adam to do the same. All of a sudden their nakedness was so overwhelming, the sewing of fig leaves didn't begin to cover them. God took the skins of animals to cover them instead. Now, under a new order, even the animals that God had created were sacrificed to cover Adam and Eve.

God said "No, I told you that if you eat the fruit of THAT tree, you will resort to taking your life into your own hands, and if you do, you shall surely die."

Satan argued, "No, you won't die. God knows in the day you eat thereof you will know how to take care of yourselves just fine without Him."

In the Gospel of John, Jesus reassures us by affirming, EVERYTHING MY FATHER HAS TOLD ME I HAVE TOLD YOU.

I no longer call you servants because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father has told me. John 15:15

God never intended for man to be a slave -- he who sins is a slave to sin -- nor did God desire to be a slave master. His desire was to be our Father and for His children to be sons and daughters, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. His heart broke when Adam and Eve were no longer under His complete care and protection -- for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Romans 14:23

The key to a joyful, peaceful, rich, fulfilling and powerful life is to live under the Father's care.

The key to a stressful, anxious, fearful and worrisome existence is to figure it out on your own. Just how much God cares for His own is written throughout the Old and New Testament.                                                                      

The expression, "Can you cover the bill?" is on the table right now. If you cannot, God is ready to cover you with His great love and provision. The Bible says, "Love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8)

According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, man cannot survive without air, food, water, shelter, clothing and sleep. It's lonely at the top without the covering of our God, who gathers us under His wings and covers us there with His hand.   

Yet, many homeless people are on the streets struggling to survive. If only they knew how perfectly God would cover them. If only they believed.

                                                                 

To know God, you need to know the Word of God. Timothy said, "Study to show thyself approved unto God." Then you will be convinced that God and His Word are one in the same, and you will have an unquenchable yearning to share Him, His love, and His Word with a lost and dying world.